Community Perspectives on Readiness and Social Drivers of Crime

A community-based crime reduction initiative was launched in 2017 in a mid-sized city in the southern U.S. The target neighborhood has been described as experiencing concentrated poverty, high crime rates, and limited opportunities for economic mobility and healthy life outcomes. In this first person account, residents and stakeholders involved in this initiative offered their perspectives at the onset of the project regarding the extent to which the community was ready to undertake the project.